The major markets retreated once again as all 5 indices closed lower. The losses were evenly paced as all five closed within half a percent of each other. This occurred despite fresh all-time high in the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones.
Looking back at last week, possibly the most consequential economic event that took place was Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Wednesday press conference. During the question-and-answer segment, Powell was asked if it was time to start “…talking about talking about tapering yet?” to which he chuckled and replied “Not yet.”
This exchange highlighted quite clearly the dovish and patent stance the Fed has taken to stimulate the domestic market despite the recent rise in treasury interest rates.
Not surprisingly, the Fed made no changes to the Fed Funds Rate which has remained between 0 and 25 basis points for a year now. Furthermore, Powell stated that a majority of the fed members didn’t anticipate an increase in the Fed Funds rate for the next three years.
Meanwhile, treasuries saw the long-term end of the yield curve climb higher yet again as it represented the eighth consecutive week of increases in the 10-year yield. The 10-year closed Friday at 1.74% after testing the 1.76% rate midweek.
The rise in interest rates contributed to the stalled performance at the sector level which saw mixed returns. The notable standout was the loss in the S&P 500 Energy sector which dropped over seven and half percent last week after seven consecutive weeks of gains. Nevertheless, the Energy sector remains the top performer year to date with a gain over 29%.
With this being the last full week of the first quarter, overall performance has been positive with losses only in two sectors and gains across all five major markets.